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Now it works like this. You have a DJ broadcasting to a server. This server listens to the DJ, listeners connect to the server, and the server relays the signal to multiple listeners.

To run a station you need Winamp and the Shoutcast DSP Plug-in for Winamp, a server to stream to, a good connection to the server, good bandwidth from the server, and some MP3′s.

Server Setup

Now for a server you can either go with an outside server provider, which you usually have to pay for, or run the server on your own box. If you are looking for a server provider please refer to this thread for a list of providers. If you choose to run the server on your own system you can download the latest Shoutcast DNAS server from Shoutcast.com for the Windows platform and *NIX platform. If you choose to run the server on your own system make sure your ISP’s Acceptable Usage Policy allows you to run servers and that you have enough bandwidth. Bandwidth calculators can be found in the Useful Links thread.

Now that you have your server the first step is to configure it.

Install the software on your server. On windows you have two types of server, the GUI version and the console version, on *NIX systems you only have the console version.

With the install comes a file called sc_serv.ini, edit it. If you use the Windows GUI version there should be a link to edit it in your Start Menu. The basic entries in this file are listed below:

Required Stuff

MaxUser
You need to change this, to reflect the number of users you can handle on your bandwidth, the ini file is well commented and tells you how to set this well.

Password
This is your Shoutcast server’s password, needed to connect and administer. Change it to something a bit safer than “changeme”! Remember this! You will need it later when you connect to stream.

PortBase
This is the port your Shoutcast server is going to cast on, make sure this port isn’t blocked by your/your ISP’s firewall. Change it if you like, but the default port of 8000 is usually fine.

Logging configuration
The logging options are fine for now, we’re just getting you started.

Network Configuration

SrcIP
Now if you are on a dial-up, or a dynamic IP then this should be “ANY” to let you connect when you are on-line, if you are casting from a static location it should be your IP address. If the server is on your broadcast machine then you can set it to “127.0.0.1″ so no other machine can connect.

DestIP
This is the IP your clients will connect to, leave it as ANY as instructed in the file, unless your machine has multiple IP addresses. This has to deal with network problems.

Yport
If you are behind an ISP cache then set this to 666 and the yp will be able to detect your actual IP and therefore will be able to add you.

NameLookups
Leave alone for now.

RelayPort and RelayServer
If you do not have enough bandwidth for all your listeners on your server alone, you can relay your stream to another server. If this server setup is a relay server uncomment the lines and point them to the proper IP and port of the server you want to relay.

The rest of the file is more advanced options. If you are interested in what they do, go through and read the documentation in the file and play with them. You can leave these alone if you just want to set up your broadcast and get it going. The rest of the options in sc_serv.ini are beyond the scope of this article.

Next you need to start the server. This can be done from a DOS prompt in Windows 98, or a command prompt in W2K or NT. If you have the GUI version just launch it with the link the installer put in your Start Menu. It’s slightly different (but not much) on *NIX systems, and if you are using a *NIX system and need this help, then I don’t think you should be using *NIX.

Shoutcast DSP Setup

Once you have installed the DSP plug-in into Winamp you can go ahead and start Winamp then the DSP plug-in:
Preferences (Ctrl-P) > Plug-ins > DSP/Effect > Select “Nullsoft Shoutcast Source DSP…”

Once you select this the Shoutcast DSP box will pop up. First select the “Encoder” tab. Select an Encoder (Use Encoder 2 because Encoder 1 currently has a bug), select an Encoder Type (currently only MP3), and then select the format and bitrate you want to stream with in the “Encoder Settings” drop down.

Next select the “Output” tab and select an Output (Output 1 by default is good). Hit the “Connection” button if it is not already selected. Type in the address of your server (“localhost” if the DSP and server are on the same machine). For “Port” enter the port you have as PortBase in the sc_serv.ini file (8000 by default). Enter the password you selected when editing sc_serv.ini. Finish off by selecting the encoder number that you previously set.

If you would like your server to be listed on Shoutcast.com hit the “Yellowpages” button next to the “Connection” button. Make sure “Make this server public” is checked. Then enter some descriptive info about your stream in the corresponding boxes below.

The other options in the Shoutcast DSP are not described here because they are beyond the scope of this article.

Once you have all the settings taken care of go ahead and hit the “Connect” button. Start playing the MP3s that you want to webcast. If everything is set up and running correctly the DSP should connect to the server and start the stream for the world to hear.

Enter Action Center, a new Control Panel item in Windows 7 that integrates Problem Reports and Solutions,  Security Center, Windows Update, Windows Defender, Network Access Protection, Backup and Restore, Recovery, User Account Control consolidating numerous notifications into one centralized environment for maintaining and keeping your PC secure and running smoothly. Lets learn a bit more about these tools:

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To access Action Center, click Start, type Action Center, hit Enter.

As you can see in the above screenshot, Action Center shell features a clean well organized layout categorized into two main areas Security and Maintenance and additional quick links to Troubleshooting, Recovery and other available options under the Control Panel Task Pane.

Security

The Security Area of Action Center provides vital information about your security status, with colored notifications that indicate the severity of a problem. As you can see, my current status is red along with a summary noting that my Antivirus program is out of date. With one click I can immediately update my Antivirus right there to resolve that problem.

Red indicates that there is a security threat or potential for loss of data if the problem is not corrected.

Yellow indicate that you should attempt to fix the problem but there is no risk to your computer if you don’t.

If I need additional information, simply click the chevron button, this will reveal information regarding areas of the system such as Network Firewall, Windows Update, Internet Security settings, User Account Control and Network Access Protection. The key aspect here is the centralized summary of the systems health which makes it easier to manage and maintain. For consumers and business users, User Account Control and Network Access Protection provide greater ease of use when working with your computer and simplifies the security experience for users who connect to a business Network. If your Administrator has enabled support for NAP, when you connect your PC, it is checked to see if it is in compliance with standards implemented by the Administrator, such as software, settings and updated Antivirus. If everything is not updated, your access to the network can be limited until all those outstanding issues are resolved.

User Account Control notifications can be better controlled when it comes to notifying you about changes to your system. If you had upgraded to Windows Vista, you will remember the numerous User Account Control dialogs you had to contend with, whether its accessing an area of the system, installing a program or doing some random task.

Windows 7 provides a more passive experience with UAC, you will still see a few, but it’s not triggered for every action taken. UAC also gives the user more information about why it does what it does. For instance, an application is shown which part of the system it needs to access or need to write to. UAC is still annoying, but it’s not in your face. The enhanced settings provide users the option of controlling how they are notified of potential changes to the system. Similar to Internet Explorers ‘Security level for this zone’ setting, users have a choice between Never and Always Notify.

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• Never Notify is the most drastic option and is pretty much similar to turning of UAC all together. I don’t think you want to choose this option because UAC still has a place in Windows, just that it needs to be more intelligent. For this there are more flexible options.
• The option to only be notified when programs attempt to make changes to the system, but exclude user initiated actions. It kind of defeats the original premise of UAC protecting novice users from themselves, but for those who are novices and experts who find UAC in its current state too intrusive should find this to be the right balance.
• Two other options, ‘Always Notify Me’, notifies the user, but does not wait on a response from the user, which the obvious ‘Always notify me and wait for my response’ does.

Overall, I consider this to be progress; users finally have choice on this critical area of the system. Its clear Microsoft has listened and users should feel more confident with changes they make to UAC. In Vista there is this nagging paranoia even for those who willingly turn it off, with Windows 7, its all about choice and confidence.

Maintenance

This area of Action Center deals with Problem Reports/error messages that the system has encountered. If you have not submitted them yet, you can click the Check for Solutions link that might be available to resolve the problem. Backup is also featured here and notifies you about out of date backups or files that need to be backed up. When you click the Chevron button, it reveals additional details such as whether you need to check for updates or if an action is required for a particular problem you might be experiencing.

Check out Notebooks.com Windows 7 backup tutorial here

Problem Reports and Solutions which was introduced with the release of Windows Vista is now a part of the Action Center shell. Whenever your computer encounters errors software or hardware related, Problem Report keeps a log of all these problems. If you click the ‘View problems to report’ link under Maintenance you might see a backlog of problems that you can check for possible solutions.

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Problems are organized into categories that allows you to easily associate an issue with a particular area of the system. As you can see in the above screenshot, I have multiple issues related to my Antivirus program, Network, third party application installer and the Windows Explorer shell. You have the option to pick and choose how you want to report problems. If you want to check for solutions to all problems, just check the ‘Select All’ box, if you consider some problems to not be detrimental you can check for solutions on a case by case basis. Other factors can include your Internet Connection, because a lot of diagnostics data is sent to assist with the resolution of the problem, it can take some time to send the information.

In addition to these main aspects of the Action Center, you will find additional tools such as Troubleshooting and Recovery. In our Troubleshooting Heroes article, we discussed the benefits of this new experience which bundles packaged wizards to help diagnose and resolve up to 27 of the most common problems with additional troubleshooters available from Windows Update. We also took a look at the new Recovery Options included in Windows 7, which provides more effective options for correcting issues whether its associated with reinstalling Windows or repairing your computer if it is not starting properly.

Accessibility and Notifications

This probably is the highlight of Action Center in Windows 7, the subtle notification experience and quick access to items that need attention. Situated in the Notification area of the Taskbar is the Action Center Flag, if you hover your mouse pointer over the icon, you will see a tool tip revealing the amount of pending messages that need attention. When clicked it reveals additional details and you can click an individual message to resolve the issue right away or just open the Action Center to review all messages.

Options

Another thing I like about Action Center it is very customizable, you are not restricted to doing what the program says. If you click on the Action Center settings link under Control Panel Home, you will see the option to fine tune what types of items you would like to receive reports and messages about or what type of information you would like Windows 7 to diagnose and send to resolve.

Conclusion

If you have not checked out Action Center, now is the time to do so. The centralized experience makes it seamless for managing and maintaining the health of your PC. The simplified convenience of the interface, ability to customize and mitigate issues quickly makes this addition to Windows, a definite winner!

Are you looking to free up a few megabytes of space on your hard drive? Then you should check out Windows 7’s handy disk cleanup utility.

Start off by typing Disk Cleanup in the Start Menu search box and hit return.

This will start the utility and you will be presented with a dialog box. Select the hard drive you want to clean up using the drop down box:

When you hit OK the utility will search the hard drive you selected to find files to possibly remove.

Note: It does not remove files automatically – you have to tell it later to do that so don’t worry about running the utility at this stage – nothing is being removed so far.

Here the utility is searching the hard drive you selected.  When it is complete it will show you this dialog box:

As you can see it has initially identified 155MB of files to possibly be removed.  That total size is based on which categories of files have their check box selected to indicate you want to remove those files.

The following screen shots show you some of the other file categories you can possibly select to remove those files – they are not checked by default:

As you click on each listing the main dialog box will explain what those files are related to in order to assist you in deciding to remove them or not.

If you choose Clean up system files then you will remove files for all users on the PC your working on. If your desperate for more space that might be necessary.  The other users can always run this utility under their own login as well to clean up files.

So once you have everything picked that you wan tot delete then hit the OK button and then confirm you want to perform the deletions:

Key word there is permanently – these files do not go to the Recycle Bin.

Here you can see the utility is carrying out the file cleanup based on your selections.  Once it is done there is no confirmation dialog of any kind – it just goes back to your desktop.

This should help you free up a few megabytes of space on your system.

Are you sure that you’re getting the very best performance out of your PC? Whether you’re running Windows Vista or Windows 7, try these tips to give your PC a little extra zip.

Turn off visual effects

“Pretty is as pretty does,” my grandmother used to say. Maybe she wasn’t referring to computers, but the principle still applies. Windows includes some stunning effects, but they’re not necessary if you value speed over eye candy. Go ahead and disable them:

1. Click the Start button , and type Performance Information and Tools in the search window. Select it from the list of results.
2. Click Adjust visual effects

1. On the Visual Effects tab, choose Adjust for best performance (more drastic) or Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer (less drastic), and then click OK.

Limit how many programs run at startup

There are a lot of programs that load automatically when you boot up your PC—which can really hamper performance. To manage these programs like a pro, learn how to get a comprehensive view of what’s running:

1. Click the Start button , and type System Configuration in the search window. Select it from the list of results.

1. Select the Startup tab. The files set to run at startup are indicated with a check mark. You can uncheck nonessential programs—but make sure you only disable programs you’re familiar with. When in doubt, leave it checked.

Delete, delete, delete

A clean machine is a fast machine. That means your best option is to uninstall all the programs you don’t use. Delete things like trial software, limited edition versions, and anything else you’re never going to use. Anti-virus software? Just testing. You always want your security program—but make sure you’re only running a single, up-to-date program. To uninstall software:

1. Click the Start button and select Control Panel.
2. Underneath Programs, click Uninstall a program. (If you don’t see this page, change the View by option in the top right-hand corner to Category.)

1. Select the program you want to delete and click Uninstall.

Run fewer programs at the same time

If your PC bogs down while you’re working, check to see how many programs you have running. All programs take up system memory, which can have a huge impact on performance. In some cases, having multiple instances of a program (such as several open e-mail messages) or multiple versions of a program type (more than one anti-virus program) can use up memory. Respond to and close your messages right away and keep open only the programs that are necessary for the work you’re currently doing—and you’ll see a boost in speed.

Make ReadyBoost your friend

It’s all very well to advise you to close programs you’re not using—but just because you’re not using it now doesn’t mean you won’t be using it in 10 minutes. The answer is ReadyBoost, a super helpful feature that can use the extra space on a flash card or USB storage device to speed up your PC. Plug in a compatible storage device and click Speed up my system when you see the AutoPlay dialog box.

Troubleshoot

If your PC was whizzing along merrily and then suddenly started lagging, run a virus scan. Viruses and malware can really bog you down. Clean bill of health? Try a troubleshooter:

1. Click the Start button , and select Control Panel
2. In the search box, type troubleshooter. Click Troubleshooting.
3. Under Systems and Security, click Check for performance issues.

1. Run the Performance troubleshooter by clicking Next in the lower right hand corner.

Restart often and clean your hard disk

The more you use your PC, the more applications you use and the more services you’re running. Closing an application doesn’t always close the service. That’s why rebooting fixes so many problems; it clears out the memory. Restart at least once a week. Your best bet? Turn off your PC every night. Not only will you clear out your memory, but you’ll save energy to boot.

You should also make a habit of cleaning your hard disk to remove temporary files, emptying the Recycle Bin, and getting rid of system files you don’t need any more:

1. Click the Start button , and type Disk Cleanup in the search window. Select it from the list of results.
2. After the utility runs, you’ll see how much disk space you can free up.
3. Click OK, and then click Delete Files.

Check your hardware

Is your PC still slow? Take a look at the Windows Experience Index, a method of rating your PC on five key components. Depending on your particular hardware, you might need a new PC or some hardware upgrades. To see your Windows Experience Index:

1. Click the Start button , and type Performance Information and Tools in the search window. Select it from the list of results.
2. Click Re-run the assessment at the bottom right-hand corner of the window.
3. Check out your base score. If your score is lower than 3, it might be time to consider a new PC.

Keep your PC up to date

One of the best things you can do to protect your PC is also one of the easiest: Make sure you are set up to get automatic updates from Microsoft. If you use Windows and other Microsoft software, such as Microsoft Office or Windows Live Essentials, then you should use the Microsoft Update service. You’ll also get notices about new Microsoft software that you can download for free.

So how do you turn on automatic updates? Simple: Go to the Microsoft Update Web site. If you don’t have automatic updates turned on, we’ll help you through the process.

“Your computer could fry if you don’t keep it clean,” says Jonathon Millman, chief technology officer for Hooplah Interactive.

Dust clogs the vents behind your computer, which causes your CPU to heat up—and heat is the biggest cause of component failure in computers. Regular cleaning could save you costly maintenance fees down the road.

Keep your computer in tip-top shape by following Millman’s guide to a spotless computer system.

In this article, we offer many ways to do what you need to do in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Often, there may not be a Help topic for Windows XP, but the process is often the same as in Windows 7 or Windows Vista. The only difference is usually where to find the link in Control Panel. Most often, it’s just a matter of slightly different wording in the heading or the text describing the task. Don’t worry. If you search in Control Panel, you’ll usually find the link you need.

Astrill is a new virtual private network provider. Servers provided by Astrill are located in the United States and the United Kingdom. It changes your default IP address to UK or US based IP address.

While surfing with Astrill, your connection is encrypted thus protected from eavesdropping (even from your ISP). You can feel safe to use Wi-Fi on public places, because with Astrill all your information is protected. And it bypasses any kind of firewall or filtering.

Astrill is still in Private Beta and its trial version of 3 days is available for download. You may get a fully functional Private beta Invitation. Simply give a comment to this thread.

Source : WinSpark.net

WinSpark.net | Spark your Windows

Two builds of Windows 7 SP1 were reportedly already produced by the Redmond company in March, 7601.16517.100301-1718 and 7601.16518.100302-1530. Both belong to the winmain_sp branch. Wzor claims that it could leak any of the Windows 7 SP1 interim Builds that have been put together by Microsoft, but that it doesn’t see any point to this action until the service pack reaches the Beta development milestone.

As far as the 7601.16518.100302-1530 build string is concerned, 7601 represents the major build number, 16518 the minor version, and 100302-1530 the date and time at which the release was compiled, namely March 2, 2010 at 15:30.

But ideally spending time on reformatting the machine may not be a good option. So, how do we reset the password of the locked account? We have a solution for this problem. The solution is using DaRT. DaRT stands for Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit.

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset is a core component of the Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance, a suite of advanced technologies designed to improve desktop manageability and security and decrease total cost of ownership (TCO).

Resolution

Step 1: Obtain the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 6.0 and create the recovery cd using ERD Commander Boot Wizard based upon WinPE or obtain the CD from the Local IT.

Step 2: Boot the target machine using the DaRT Recovery CD

Select No for NetStart, we don’t require the network connectivity.

Step 3: Select the appropriate language. Default is US and click on Next

Step 4: Select the Operating System. If you have more than 2 Operating Systems, it will show 2 operating systems and Click on Next

Step 5: Once loaded you will see it’s like Windows Vista Bootable DVD Repair tools but with 1 more additional option ‘Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset’; click on it.

Step 6: You will see following tools in DaRT. Click on Locksmith

Step 7: This will launch Locksmith wizard. Click on Next

Step 8: This will show ‘Select New Password’ window. Select the account you want to reset the password. And provide the new password. After that click on Next

Step 9: You will get dialog box ‘Completing the Locksmith Wizard’ On next restart you will have an option to Change the local user account password after you log in.

Click on Finish. Click on Close and Restart

Step 10: Take out the DaRT CD and restart the machine.

Enter the recently changed password for the local user. Then you will get the above message stating ‘The user’s password must be changed before logging on the first time’

Click OK and type in the new password

you have just changed the password for the local account. Now you can login with the newly created password.

Screenshot tutorial & Source :

MDOP DaRT: Reset forgotten Windows Account Passwords